Posts Tagged ‘ferromagnetic’
Friday, May 22nd, 2009
In a word, ‘Yes,’ but not by the conventional ways that imaging providers are accustomed to...
Would using ferromagnetic detection (FMD), to add a new and effective layer of pre-MRI screening, be reimbursed? What I mean is, is there a CPT code to get paid back for providing this additional service?
No, but the lack of a CPT code has little to do with the fact that using FMD can contribute, directly, to an MRI provider’s bottom-line. In fact, there are two concrete ways, off of the top of my head, that I know have provided financial ‘payback’ to users of ferromagnetic detection systems.
Click Here To Learn How FMD Pays Back…
Tags: accident, cost, CPT, detection, detector, ferromagnetic, ferrous, investment, magnet, magnetic, metal, MRI, projectile, reimbursement, revenue, risk, ROI, safety, screening
Posted in Ferromagnetic Detection for MRI Safety | 1 Comment »
Friday, May 1st, 2009
Ferromagnetic detection for pre-MRI screening is disruptive. Not that it slows down your patient throughput (it doesn’t), or that it makes imaging problematic (it doesn’t do that, either), but it does provide an entirely new type of feedback that MR staff and Technologists have never had before. It tells us whether subjects are actually listening to the self-screening instructions we’ve been giving for years. These instruments, more precisely the feedback that they provide, does take a little getting used to. The introduction of ferromagnetic detection is often met with 5 steps towards acceptance…
Click Here To Learn The 5 Phases. C’mon. I Know You Want To…
Tags: accept, accident, detection, detector, ferromagnetic, imaging, magnet, magnetic, metal, MRI, radiology, risk, SAFESCAN, safety, screening, Technologist
Posted in Ferromagnetic Detection for MRI Safety | No Comments »
Saturday, April 25th, 2009
A few weeks ago I posted my layperson’s summary of why there’s even an issue with metal and MRI (click here to read that post on MRI and Metal). In this posting, I hope to explain why it’s so critical to find metals, particularly ferromagnetic metals, being carried by people or inside objects.
Click To Read More About Different Metals and MRI…
Tags: artifact, damage, death, detect, ferromagnetic, hazard, injury, interference, magnet, magnetic resonance, metal, missile, MRI, non-ionizing, projectile, protocol, RF, risk, rotation, torque, translational
Posted in Ferromagnetic Detection for MRI Safety | 2 Comments »
Friday, April 3rd, 2009
A very common question asked about ferromagnetic detection systems is, “will it find __________ [insert the object of your choice: pacemaker, cell phone, pocket knife, intra-orbital fragments...]?” Funny, but in the hundreds, if not thousands, of times that question has been posed to me, never once has it been, “will it find a nail I stuck in my nose 30 years ago?”
Click To Read How This Isn’t A Joke Question…
Tags: detect, ferromagnetic, foreign body, magnet, metal, MRI, nail, news, nose, story, television
Posted in Ferromagnetic Detection for MRI Safety, Other MRI Safety | 2 Comments »
Sunday, March 22nd, 2009
Many people just learning about MRI safety and hazards ask very similar questions. One of most frequent is, “why do I have to remove all metal before an MRI,” or it’s corollary, “can I get an MRI with some metal on (or in) me?” To answer these questions, let’s start at the very beginning…
What A Very Good Place To Start… (Click Here)
Tags: ACR, aluminum, cobalt, danger, detect, detector, ferromagnetic, ferrous, hazard, iron, JCAHO, Joint Commission, magnetic, metal, MRI, nickel, pacemaker, pre-screen, projectile, risk, safe, screening, stainless, steel, VA, Veterans Affairs
Posted in Ferromagnetic Detection for MRI Safety, Other MRI Safety | 36 Comments »
Monday, March 16th, 2009
Last year, the United States Supreme Court decided that medical device manufacturers that had gone through the trial-by-fire of a FDA pre-market review are immune from civil action in the state courts for product liability (Riegel v. Medtronic). Just a few weeks ago, the Court threw what many considered to be a major curve-ball when they decided that comparable protections do NOT apply to pharmaceutical manufacturers (Levine v. Wyeth). What does this suggest to MRI providers (Technologists, Radiologists and Administrators)?
Click To Learn What This Supreme Court Decision Suggests…
Tags: accreditation, ACR, approval, civil, court, decision, detection, detector, device, FDA, ferromagnetic, legal, Levine, liability, magnetic, medical, Medtronic, MRI, NSF, pharmaceutical, regulatory, resonance, Riegel, safety, state, suit, supreme, Wyeth
Posted in Ferromagnetic Detection for MRI Safety, Other MRI Safety | No Comments »
Thursday, February 26th, 2009
“You don’t know what you don’t know.”
This phrase isn’t meant to make anyone feel small. It doesn’t mean “you should know,” or “everybody else knows this,” or even that “the guy writing this knows.” This phrase is very democratic… it applies to each of us (particularly the guy writing this).
What it means is that, if our brains are libraries, even big ones, there’s only so much information that can fit inside. We may know the next 10, 100 or 1,000 books we want to add to our mental Alexandria, but we can’t want (or even hate) the book that we don’t know exists. The same is true of MRI safety.
Click to read more about protecting against MRI accidents…
Tags: 4-zone, accident, detection, ferromagnetic, magnetic, management, MRI, protection, resonance, risk, safety
Posted in Ferromagnetic Detection for MRI Safety, Other MRI Safety | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009
No, this isn’t about federal banking bail-outs or corporate welfare. This is the cost, in real-world dollars, of an average single MRI projectile accident in the VA Healthcare system.
Click to read more about the costs of MRI missile accidents…
Tags: accident, cost, detector, expense, fatality, ferromagnetic, force, injury, magnetic, Mednovus, metal, missile, MRI, projectile, resonance, risk, ROI, safety, translational
Posted in Ferromagnetic Detection for MRI Safety | No Comments »
Thursday, December 18th, 2008
The ECRI Institute has again published their annual Top-10 Health Technology Hazards document for 2008, which is available as a free download from their website. Number 9 on the ECRI list is one of the well known MRI hazards. But before I tell you which MRI hazard made their list, let me give you a little background on what the ECRI Institute is and what they do…
Click here to learn more about ECRI and their Top 10 MRI hazard…
Tags: accident, burn, ECRI, ferromagnetic, hazard, health, injury, institute, Kanal, magnetic resonance, missile, MRI, projectile, safety, technology, threat, top-10
Posted in Ferromagnetic Detection for MRI Safety, Other MRI Safety | 1 Comment »
Monday, December 15th, 2008
The American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE) has just published a monograph for those planning MRI installations and the design professionals (architects, engineers and equipment planners) who help them.
Click to read more on the content and ordering options for the ASHE monograph…
Tags: AHA, American, architect, ASHE, detection, detector, engineer, Engineering, equipment planner, ferromagnetic, healthcare, magnetic, MRI, plan, resonance, safety, Society
Posted in Ferromagnetic Detection for MRI Safety | Comments Off